Assessing the need for psychooncological support: screening instruments in combination with patients' subjective evaluation may define psychooncological pathways

Abstract

Recommended instruments for distress assessment in psychooncology measure different areas of distress. They do not sufficiently agree in indicating a patient's need for psychooncological treatment. Hence, one should neither compare results of studies using different assessment instruments nor implement a screening without reflecting the used instrument's characteristics compared to the others. The subjective need seems to provide additional information to the assessment. At present, the combination of an assessment instrument and patients' subjective need is seen as a best practice for identifying patients in need of psychooncological treatment.